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A blaze at the Abbey

Crews worked for almost five hours to put out fire
13625missionabbeyfire
Mission firefighters worked throughout the night to put out a workshop fire at the Westminster Abbey.

Mission firefighters battled freezing temperatures Saturday night to put out a stubborn fire at one of the workshops on the Westminster Abbey grounds.

The fire was reported around 11:40 p.m. Saturday, said Mission Fire Chief Larry Watkinson, who noted the building was difficult to access. "It was an all night fire — really stubborn."

There was a lot of equipment inside the wood shop along with fuel load and combustibles, Watkinson explained. The structure also had a tin roof.

The blaze started outside the building, near a saw dust box, and travelled inside through the roof.

The fire was large on arrival, said the fire chief, "but we managed to get a good handle on it."

Nobody was inside the building at the time and firefighters eventually quelled the flames and around 4:30 a.m. early Sunday morning.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the fire, and Watkinson noted it doesn't appear suspicious.